Making the Rounds

October 22, 2019 | Issue 217

Friends and Colleagues,

We’re understandably proud of the community outreach our students do in the community. You can find our students volunteering to help veterans, serving with service organizations such as Catholic Charities, learning how medical care is carried out in clinics for our most vulnerable populations. Yes, connecting with the community, which is actually part of the school’s curriculum, is in the DNA of the UNLV School of Medicine. Our connection doesn’t stop with our students. For example, just recently Dr. Kush Modi, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine, made a presentation to the local chapter of the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) support group. His explanations for managing an incurable condition suffered by 100,000 Americans -- IPF can cause permanent scarring in the lungs, making it progressively more difficult to breathe -- was so well received by both University Medical Center respiratory therapists and Southern Nevadans with the condition, that the group has already asked him back for future presentations. In today’s feature, we profile Dr. Modi, who also serves as associate program director of our pulmonary and critical care fellowships, which give physicians the training to specialize in two highly technical areas of medicine.

BREAKING NEWS - RESEARCH

The UNLV School of Medicine's Second Annual Research Forum was very well attended October 17th, 2019. There were approximately 40 attendees with all ten clinical departments making presentations, as well as medical students, residents, the

School of Engineering, and the Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine. Presentations showcased

several examples of multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration taking place both on and off campus.

MEDICINE BY THE NUMBERS

ACNE - 85%

Acne is the most common skin condition in the United States, affecting 40 million to 50 million individuals each year and up to 85 percent of adolescents and young adults, a report issued by John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital discloses.

Source: https://www.hopkinsallchildrens.org/ACH-News/General-News/Acne-in-Adolescents-and-Young-Adults

Young Doctor Inspired by his Parents Now helping Save Lives

at UNLV School of Medicine

Inspired to become a doctor after watching his mother take her last breath, Dr. Kush Modi is now an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine.

Ask Dr. Kush Modi why he became a physician and he begins to tell you about growing up in India -- how he watched his uncomplaining father, an internist, leave the house in the middle of the night to go take care of a patient.

“It was obvious to me how much he loved his work and how much joy his work brought him,” says Dr. Modi, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine with the UNLV School of Medicine. “He practiced in a municipal hospital in India where a lot of poor people received their care free of charge…Visiting my father at work and seeing him taking care of sick patients were my favorite activities...I often saw the gratitude and respect he received from his patients and it impressed me how a physician can make a real and positive difference in people’s lives.”

Yet Dr. Modi says you can’t draw a straight line from those experiences with his father to his desire to become a physician.

It was his mother’s tragic death that solidified his decision.

“About 20 years ago, I, with my father and my sister (she was a third year medical student at the time) saw my mother take her last breath. It was a simple sore throat to begin with that worsened into fatal sepsis and claimed her life. It was at that very moment when I made a promise to myself. It was a promise to commit myself towards becoming a physician.”

He says what had been an intellectual fascination with the practice of medicine “turned into a passionate conviction after the tragic loss of my mother. Now I was able to see illness and death through the eyes of a patient and from then on, medicine was never the same to me. Only three months after the life changing event, I scored high enough grades to be admitted to a medical school.”

Today, you’ll often find Dr.Modi taking care of critically ill patients in University Medical Center ICUs and also patients who have a variety of lung diseases. He says he also sees “patients with a variety of problems related to their breathing in the UNLV clinic. My practice routinely involves performing a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in inpatient and outpatient settings.”

Both UMC respiratory therapists and individuals with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis -- an incurable condition causing scarring in the lungs, making it more difficult to breathe -- were impressed with the compassion he displayed during a recent presentation on breathing tests to the local idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis support group. He’s already been asked to come back.

“Patient education is an integral part of effective medicine,” he says. “It is very important to monitor progress of this disease over months to years. One very important way to do this is by pulmonary function tests (breathing tests). These tests are routinely ordered for these patients but many times patients are not very clearly educated about these tests and what the physician is looking for when these tests are ordered. As these tests are very dependent on patient effort, it is obvious that if a patient understands the rationale and mechanics of these tests, they will be able to give their best effort. As patients understand what these tests mean, a physician can specifically discuss the results with them in more detail and patients can become an active participant in the medical decision-making process. Informed patients are better decision makers for their own care.”

"I was immediately drawn to the noble values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on which the U.S. was founded. Looking back at my experiences here in the U.S., I am extremely grateful to this generous country for the excellent medical training I have received and letting me become a part of this land of opportunity.” - Dr. Kush Modi

Dr. Modi graduated from a medical school in India in 2007. It was while he was in his first year of medical school that he visited the United States.

“I was immediately drawn to the noble values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on which the U.S. was founded. After learning more about the medical education in the U.S. and the plethora of opportunities which were available to advance my interests, I was convinced that moving to the U.S. would be the right decision to pursue my dream of becoming a physician. Looking back at my experiences here in the U.S., I am extremely grateful to this generous country for the excellent medical training I have received and letting me become a part of this land of opportunity.”

Upon graduation from medical school, he moved to Philadelphia, where he would receive a master’s degree in public health from Drexel University. Through Drexel, he would also complete an internal medicine residency. That was followed by a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

His experience as a resident in internal medicine, coupled with a long-standing wonder at the complexity and perfection of the respiratory system, spurred him to specialize in pulmonary and critical care medicine.

“The complex and challenging patients I cared for in critical care settings left a lasting impression on me. These are the patients who are severely ill and every decision made by physicians can have an impact on their outcomes...I was impressed by the ability of critical care physicians to formulate an organized plan and take control of chaotic and highly stressful situations...The time I spent in the intensive care units was the most challenging and satisfying time during my training. Those sleepless nights spent trying to stabilize a sick patient and discussing the prognosis with the family of a dying patient worked as a fuel for my burning passion to become a doctor with both incisive logic and warm compassion.”

In medical school he said he had become intrigued by the complex physiology of the pulmonary system. He said he still marvels at how we breathe, how our lungs get oxygen in the blood and clear carbon dioxide from the blood.

“I realized pulmonary and critical care would be a perfect career avenue for me.”

In 2015 he moved to Las Vegas to practice, first through the University of Nevada Medical School, then the UNLV School of Medicine. The division of pulmonary and critical care was in its infancy. “I could immediately see that there was, and still is, such a great potential for growth.”

Now also the associate program director of pulmonary and critical care fellowship, Dr. Modi says he works to ensure that fellows are getting the best training and developing into confident physicians.

While he misses family and friends in his native India, Dr. Modi says he’s glad he came to America.

“Leaving my country of birth and building a life in a new country was surely an adventure. It took me a little time to adapt to a completely different culture, but it has been a rewarding experience.”

In the News

"Dr. Carmen Flores and Medical Student Lauren Hollifield join Las Vegas City Councilman Brian Knudsen to discuss Medical District"

CITY OF LAS VEGAS TV

"Dr. Brandon Eddy discusses his research on postpartum depression, miscarriage, infertility and loss from a father’s perspective."

WHOLE MAMMAS PODCAST

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